Over 80% of personal computers (PCs) are already capable of supporting 3D computer graphics and nearly all of the over 120 million new desktop computers shipped in 2000 were equipped with 3D graphics chipsets. In addition, there are over 100 million game consoles (such as the Nintendo, Gamecube and Xbox) capable of generating and displaying 3D scenes on a standard television set.
PC and video games represent the most common application of 3D technology. However, computer aided design (CAD), medical imaging, animation, and video production (using Icommercial software applications such as Discreet's 3ds and Alias/Wavefront's Maya) represent alternative common applications of 3D technology.
Perhaps the best illustrations of a 3D GUI for controlling a computer come from fictional examples in Hollywood movies such as Jurassic Park, Disclosure, Lawnmower Man, and Johnny Mnemonic. However, to date, there have been no successful commercial examples of using 3D for the graphical user interface (3D GUI) that the user uses to interact with their computer.
Since the introduction of the Macintosh 2D desktop in 1984, there have been few attempts or patents that improve upon this paradigm or take advantage of the pervasive 3D hardware technology now primarily used to play games. The major companies such as Microsoft, Sony, Xerox, IBM, and SGI have contributed to the patent literature with niche applications, but none of these solve the basic technical problems that limit the ability to use 3D for the GUI. There have also been a number of small startup firms claiming to have created a 3D desktop or website (including: Clockwise Technologies, EiDoxis, and Pentad Resources) but these are simplistic examples of a non-commercially-viable 3D GUI and suffer from the following technical problems that are overcome by the present invention:                1) 3D scenes are huge, thus 3D files cannot easily be transferred over the Internet. The only solution is to use low-resolution images that look poor.        2) 3D scenes are static, thus a 3D desktop or website created for one user cannot be used for another since each user will have different applications, files, folders, shortcuts, images and song lists or different preferences.        3) 3D scenes are complex and difficult to create, thus the average person cannot create or modify one without lots of training and an expensive software package. Since the average user will want their 3D desktop or website to be personalized to their tastes, this represents a large barrier to the pervasive use of 3D websites.        
Even though 3D hardware is relatively pervasive, these technical limitations have prevented the pervasive use of a 3D GUI that runs on these hardware systems.
A 3D GUI can be used to interface to a variety of applications including a user's operating system and file directory (usually referred to as a 3D Desktop), information over the Internet (referred to as a 3D website), or a specific application such as a 3D photo-editing product, or a 3D e-mail application. The present invention specifically refers to using a 3D GUI to access content over the Internet and thus is called a 3D website.
There is prior art associated with viewing 3D content over the Internet, but the vast majority of this is associated with “object viewing”. Various companies allow a 3D object to be viewed within a 2D webpage such as Cycore, Viewpoint, Kaon, and Shout3D. Applications include showing how to build Ikea furniture or how to repair a Canon printer, showing the 3D object and how to move or fix it. However, these are only 3D objects that can essentially spin in space, not a navigable 3D scene that the user can walk around in.
Other companies allow the viewing of 2D web pages from within a 3D scene that resides on the user's computer such as Browse3D and Buzz3D. However, none of these allow users to move from one 3D website to another 3D website, nor do they allow users to interact with one another, nor do they allow users to even see the virtual manifestation of another in the scene (referred to as an “avatar”).
There was one aborted attempt to allow the standardized viewing of 3D web pages with the introduction of the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) in 1997. However, this standard had significant limitations such as all three of the problems listed above and there are no commercial applications currently in existence.
Finally, there is prior art associated with Massively Multi-user On-Line Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) such as Everquest and Anarchy Online. These on-line games can have over 100,000 subscribers and allow users to interact with each other through the use of avatars. However, these games require huge downloads, fast Internet connections, and do not allow users to interact with traditional website content or e-commerce type applications.
Examples of previous attempts to create a 3D graphical user interface and related technologies are described in the following U.S. patents, the specifications of which are hereby incorporated
Inven-Appli-PatentIssuedtor(s)cant(s)Title5,528,735JuneStrasnick,SiliconMethod and appara-1996TeslerGraphicstus for displayingInc.data within athree-dimensionalinformation land-scape5,786,820JulyRobertsonXeroxMethod and appara-1998Corp.tus for increasingthe displayeddetail of a treestructure5,880,733MarchHorvitz,MicrosoftDisplay system and1999Sonntag,Corp.method for display-Markleying windows of anoperating systemto provide a three-dimensional work-space for acomputer system5,956,038SeptemberRekimotoSonyThree-dimensional1999Corp.virtual realityspace sharingmethod and system,an informationrecording mediumand method, aninformation trans-mission medium andmethod, an infor-mation processingmethod, a clientterminal, and ashared serverterminal6,085,256JulyKitano,SonyCyber space system2000Honda,Corp.for providing aTakeuchivirtual realityspace formed ofthree dimensionalpictures from aserver to a uservia a serviceprovider6,111,581AugustBerry,IBMMethod and system2000Isensee,Corp.for classifyingRobertsuser objects in athree-dimensional(3D) environmenton a display in acomputer system6,121,971SeptemberBerry,IBMMethod and system2000Isensee,Corp.for providingRoberts,visual hierarchyBardonof task groups andrelated viewpointsof a tree dimen-sional environmentin a display of acomputer system6,175,842JanuaryKirk,AT&TSystem and method2001SelfridgeCorpfor providingdynamic three-dimensional multi-user virtual spacesin synchrony withhypertext browsing6,230,116MayRonen,ClockwiseApparatus and2001AmihaiTechnol-method for inter-ogiesacting with a sim-ulated 3D interfaceto an operatingsystem operativeto control computerresources